Theme & Variations introduces a new topic each week, presenting a wide range of music associated with that theme. Drawn from a millennium of Western classical music, the selections are an eclectic mix of familiar favorites and rarities. Theme and Variations is produced locally in Discover Classical's studios by host Joe Law.
Today’s Easter program includes music suitable for Good Friday as well as Easter. It’s by William Billings, William Byrd, Howard Hanson, Roy Harris, Joseph Haydn, Johann Pachelbel, Alfred Reed, Alan Ridout and John Rutter.
Shakespeare’s plays have made their way around the world, as demonstrated this week with scores from Russia. The composers are Mily Balakirev, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich and P.I. Tchaikovsky.
This week’s program brings you music "by arrangement"--music adapted for performers other than those originally intended. You will hear music by J. S. Bach (arr. Gustav Mahler), Ludwig van Beethoven (arr. LvB himself), Luigi Boccherini (arr. Othon Vandenbroek), Franz Schubert (arr. Fritz Kreisler) and Johann Strauss II (arr. Leopold Godowsky), along with arrangements of traditional music by Max Bruch, Adolphus Hailstork and Mátyás Sieber.
